Luke Evangelista from Oakville was the Knights’ first pick, 14th overall and Brendan Shanahan’s second cousin; Antonio Stranges from Plymouth was the 21st pick, the Knights’ first in the second round; Sahil Panwar moved from Mississauga to San Jose and was the Knights’ second second-round pick at No. 23; while Gerard Keane, a defenceman from Illinois, was their third-round pick, 42nd overall.

Three forwards and a defenceman, all highly-skilled, all good with the puck, and all with good hockey sense, all skills for which the Knights were in big need.

The big get was Stranges.

Most scouting services had the slick centre ranked in the Top 5 of draft eligible players, some as high as No. 2. He let it be known he was considering going to the United States national team program before heading to Michigan.

“But the Knights was really the only team I was going to play for,” he said. “I was signed with the U.S. national team and it’s always an honour to play for your country for two years and go to the school that’s in your backyard, but it was always an easy decision for me.

“I always knew I wanted to be a Knight. I grew up with the OHL team right next door (the Plymouth Whalers). When London came to town, they had more fans than the home team did. Then, you see all the great names that came out of this program: (Pat) Kane, (John) Tavares, (Mitch) Marner, you just want to be a part of that. You want to be like them.”

Not surprisingly, Stranges was contacted by a lot of teams that wanted to pick him in the first round but it was either going to be the national team and school or the Knights.

It didn’t hurt that Knights players such as Alex Regula, Dalton Duhart and Andrew Perrott kept contacting Stranges through the summer.

“They were texting me all summer: ‘You got to go with the Knights,’” he said. “That helped, them giving me the text about what it’s all about here. Tommy (Mannino) came over for dinner five times. Between all of them, they made the decision easy.”

It was much the same with Panwar.

His parents both were born in India. Panwar was born in Mississauga, but the family moved almost immediately to Montreal. From there, it was to San Jose as an eight-year-old before moving to Los Angeles for hockey before moving to Michigan to play with Detroit HoneyBaked U16 team.

“The competition in (Los Angeles) wasn’t always the best. That’s why we always travelled every weekend,” Panwar said. “It was hard, but it was part of the process. But the coaching there was unbelievable and I can’t thank them enough. It was because of the coaching that I am here.”

Panwar said when London drafted him there was no decision about whether he would come here to play.

“When you get drafted by London, it’s so prestigious you can’t turn it down,” he said. “It’s one of the best in all junior hockey.”

With those four players signed, it looks like a rich haul for the Knights, but there’s always a little danger when drafting Americans who have other choices. Stranges was the player everyone was chasing but Keane, a defenceman, also was highly prized.

Simpson, the Knights general manager, said the Knights did their homework and believed they could land all these players, but there’s always a risk.

“When we went into the draft, we knew there was some interest (by the players in playing in London) especially with Gerard’s brother playing here (Joey Keane with the Barrie Colts), but until you get to this moment when they sign and put on a jersey, you just never know,” Simpson said.

“Sahil had a good relationship with Tommy. They’d done some skill work and on-ice work and they know the family really well.”

This is the type of draft class for which the Knights were hoping when they opted to become sellers at the trade deadline this year.

“We were hoping for this,” Hunter said. “We went through how many years of trading picks and we had to replenish and this is the kind of crop we were hoping for. I love the skill level.

“You have to skate, you have to have hockey sense and these players have it. The fans will love them.”

Simpson said the players already had begun to show what they could do in the early sessions of the Knights mini-camp, which is happening this weekend.

“When we made those deals, we looked at the draft coming in and we felt it was a very strong draft this year,” he said. “We had two picks; our first round and the 21 pick (Stranges). We look at the Sam Miletic deal and that turns into Sahil. That was an added pick in the Top 25. It’s a tough league and we have to see how things go but these are high-end kids.”

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